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316 THE NATIONAL FREEDMAN. are so cold that we require fires to keep us comfortable. These people have barely clothing enough for the warmest part of the day. If you should send clothing to this place, I think it would be best to direct it to me, in care of Gen. Ely, that our Association may be properly credited for it. I intend to pay considerable attention to Sabbath schools this winter, and expect our teachers to be interested in them ; should like suitable papers, books, etc. and singing books for them. Very respectfully, T.G. WRIGHT. NORTH CAROLINA. Report of the Superintendent. NEWBERN, November 2, 1865. DEAR BRO. HAWKINS:——I have to report some observations and incidents of a trip through the counties on the north side of the Albemarle. Plymouth, Windsor, Edenton, Hertford, etc. I had not anticipated the return of Mr. Newcomb so soon, and felt certain that the colored people of those counties were waiting for our coming. We were accompanied up the sound to Edenton be a company of colored troops, and also an officer of the Bureau. The denizens of that pretty town had never before experienced the sweetness of those two modern blessings of Uncle Sam's contriving, and were a little shy of them, like children of their first sweetmeats. One thing seen was, as we supposed, the light limbed scout, circulating the tidings of the arrival of the troops from house to house, of such as had reason to dread their presence. PLYMOUTH. Plymouth is a lesson to the thoughtful man. "I went by the field of the disloyal, and along the streets of the men void of understanding. And lo! it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and fire had consumed away the houses thereof, and there stood stark naked the chimneys thereof. Then I saw, and considered it well. I looked upon it, and received instruction. A little secession, a little slavery, a little setting of the hands to rebellion, so shall thy poverty come as one that traveleth, and thy want as an armed man." Solomon did not say that exactly, but he might very well have said so. It is true enough for him to have said. It was indeed sad,-the pretty Gothic church,-that could not be finished because its builders had to rush into the madness of rebellion,-riddled with shot, and scribbled over inside with the low jests of the soldiers. The late roses blooming out of the rankness in the once tasteful churchyard, the silent desolation everywhere,- but such is the fruit of secession. There is there a likely community of negroes, who are eager to get back what the ram Albemarle frightened away - their schools and teachers. Mr. Newcomb and his teachers will be warmly welcomed there. Up the Roanoke (with its relics of the war sunken boats and batteries), and across the country to Windsor. WINDSOR. Here is a pleasant little county seat, left without the scathe or scar of war upon it. Within the rebel lines until the surrender of Lee, it has had a long history of rebel rule. As the out, post of a secret and effective Union League, it could tell of many an adventure in putting Union men through the lines. To the colored men there the proposition of a school was a bran new thing, and readily won their promise to provide schoolroom and quarters. It was pleasant to find a large number of the citizens, and among them some leading men of the State, favorable to a school for the blacks, provided the right kind of teacher could be had, one who should urge upon them industry, and right manners, instruct them in the nature of contracts, and discourage inflammatory notions. The institution ought to go there, as elsewhere. EDENTON. Across the country to the Chowan, then across again to Edenton. This place, like Windsor, stands to all appearance untouched by the war, though doubtless it has felt its blight in its secret places. The colored people here are already moving actively in the matter of schools. Buildings and quarters are all ready for use, and teachers are on their way. HERTFORD. Thence to Hertford, a community very obdurate in its secession love. There are those there who venture to oppose, and threaten, and eat fire (the ruling passion strong in extremity) at every independent move of the blacks. As yet it has gone no further than talk, and probably will not exceed that harmless measure, as there is throughout these northern counties a wholesome fear lest the hated troops should come. I learned a bit of history and character 317 THE NATIONAL FREEDMAN. here. Chapter 1st. No sooner had we come to the public-house than we were accosted by a very humble and oste[n]sibly repentant individual, who, among other opinions of a very despondent black and blue cast, stated, that there had long been about that locality a large number of blacks who were free-born, who, while the slaves had thriven in good food and clothes, and "plenty of pleasure," were themselves a low, worthless thieving set, a curse to the community. Now chapter 2d. Rambling near the ferry, I saw a black man, who appeared, like myself, listless and rambling. Thinking it a chance to propose business, I approached, and broached my errand. "Any considerable number of colored people about here?" "Right smart, I reckon." "Who are some of their principal men,- have they got any preacher?" "Reckon he don't stand far from ye, sir." A FREEDMAN. A few words discovered that each was the man the other was looking for, and I received a pressing request to ride some with him, about six miles out, that he might talk freely, as he had that day been threatened, for forwarding some of their independent movements. I accepted. On the road I learned that he was one of those same "good for nothing" free-born blacks. That he had early started out for himself; that, being steady, industrious, and intelligent, and consequently successful, he had incurred the spite of the "superior race;" that he had once for so grave a cause been shot at and wounded by some one of the said superior individuals. That he survived, kept on, got rich enough to be able to lose, at the outbreak of the war, $3,700 in fine ship timber, at Norfolk, a horse worth $175, three yoke of very valuable oxen, and himself was captured by the rebels, and intended for sale South, but was too sharp to lose himself in the fashion, escaped to his home, and at present owns 142 acres of land, with good farm buildings and stock. I asked if his free-born neighbors had been as "good for nothing" as he. There were, he said, "right smart of 'em who had earned as much as he, though they hadn't been so fortunate (!) as he in holding on to what he got." Before starting on in the morning I had met several of his neighbors; with him, representatives of a quite large community of independent, industrious, honest black farmers. They were the most promising, steady, and able community of colored men I have ever seen. They express a determination at all hazards to have a school for their children, if they have to lease a whole farm for it. I have promised them a good male teacher, an application for whom you have doubtless already received from Mr. Newcomb. ELIZABETH CITY. Thence to Elizabeth City. Here I found, to my surprise, Mr. Newcomb and three teachers, with a large school in full operation in the Methodist Church. A large and enthusiastic meeting in the evening, for the purpose of forming among themselves a society to assist in defraying the expenses of the school, resulted in the subscription of about eighty dollars for that object. Information of that fact reaching the ears of the "superior color," elicited from them the statement, that the blacks had more money than the whites——a statement that would appear true from the silent, deserted look of their streets. As to that, I think the merchants in many of these towns make a mistake in crowding their stores full of Northern goods before the shipment and sale of the cotton and corn crops. Until that transpires the amount of circulating greenbacks will be comparatively limited. So it is that traders at Plymouth, Edenton, and Elizabeth City find the revival of trade very slow. I was told that Edenton never was more full of goods than now. But sales were few and small. I apprehend evil from this cause. It is relieved, doubtless, to some extent by barter trade. From Elizabeth City I hastened my return to this place, at which point, in space and paper, it becomes me to say, Yours truly, BENJ. W. POND. Raleigh. RALEIGH, October 14, 1865. REV. WM. G. HAWKINS. Dear Sir:——As our school has now been in session a week, I presume you will be pleased to have some report of it. Miss Harris and I arrived in Raleigh on the 29th of September, in season to commence on the 2d of October, but found the church occupied by the colored Convention. They adjourned on the succeeding Tuesday but we were obliged to wait a couple of days longer for the house to be cleared. During our absence the church has been repaired and white-washed, and a beautiful bust of Lincoln, with an
